Movie Review: "Gone"

“Gone” is the kind of movie you would expect to watch on some network’s “Movie of the Week” programming. It is not the kind of movie you expect to see on the big screen. It is a film about a young woman who has been abducted and escaped; now her sister is missing and no one believes her. Amanda Seyfried heads a cast of TV “stars who try to instill some life in this overworked drama.

Jill (Seyfried) is a waitress who is trying to recover from a traumatic experience. She was abducted from her home, thrown into a deep hole, and luckily managed to escape. Now she is admittedly paranoid about any strangers who passes her way. So when her sister is missing when she gets home from her night shift Jill goes into a panic.

She tries to convince the police that her sister Molly (Emily Wickersham) would never leave in the middle of the night without letting her know. Detective Powers (Daniel Sunjata) who handled Jill’s case is sure it is a case of Molly getting fed up and going somewhere to stay or to study. His boss (Michael Pare’) backs him up, but another detective named Peter Hood (Wes Bentley) isn’t so sure.

The plot comes down to an “is she crazy or not” question. Sadly there is such a lack of character buildup in this movie that you really don’t even care. If the filmmaker had laid the groundwork for this to be a valid question you would have had a much better movie.

Seyfried does her best with the main role of Jill but the script undercuts her at every turn. She is not a very charismatic young woman to begin with so she needs all the help from the script she can get. Sunjata walks through his role while Pare’ and Bentley add nothing to the enjoyment of the film. Jennifer Carpenter of “Dexter” fame is on view but she has a nothing role as Jill’s friend and co-worker.

The movie is rated PG-13 for profanity and violence.

It is difficult to understand how a movie as average in every way as this one is, ever got made. Maybe it looked better on paper. What ended up on the screen is just ordinary from start to finish.